TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Newly released test results show student improvements across Florida.
The Florida Department of Education announced that the results from this year's Florida Assessment of Student Thinking demonstrated "substantial student growth throughout the school year and notable year-over-year improvement across the state," according to a news release.
The tests known as FAST are Florida's standardized assessments in reading, writing and math. FAST includes VPK through grade 10 reading and VPK through grade 8 mathematics assessments, and students take them three times per year, according to the Department of Education's website.
“The substantial gains achieved by Florida’s students on all statewide assessments demonstrate that progress monitoring is working,” Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr said in a statement. “I want to thank our teachers for their hard work in the classroom and the dedication of Florida’s students to growing throughout the year. Our dedication to our students and our willingness to change the status quo is why Florida is the number one state for education.”
Students also take other assessments not included in FAST such as end-of-course (EOC) tests in Algebra 1 and Geometry, Diaz also highlighted in the announcement.
Test results are ranked on a 1-5 scale with 5 being the highest and Level 3 being considered grade level. The exams were created in March 2022 to replace the grade-level Florida Standards Assessments. They were made to track students' improvement throughout the year, rather than show where students were just at the end of the year with one exam.
Overall for math for grades 3-8, Hillsborough scored below the state average and Pinellas scored above. Overall for English for grades 3-10, Hillsborough scored below the state average and Pinellas scored above.
Here's a breakdown of the progress made:
Statewide
School year improvement
- Grades 3-10 ELA: Performance increased by 20 percentage points
- Grades 3-8 Math: Performance increased by 42 Percentage points
Year-over-year improvement
- Grades 3-10 ELA: 53% of students scored at or above grade level for the third assessment
- Math (from the last FAST test and EOCs): 55% of students scored at or above grade level
The statewide test that showed the most growth for students was the geometry assessment with 52% of students scoring at or above Level 3, which is a 6 percentage point increase from 2023. The U.S. history test was the assessment that had the most students statewide who scored at or above Level 3 with 67%.
Diaz also notes closing achievement gaps across subjects with most being by one to five percentage points.
State compared to Hillsborough for English
Third grade: State, 55%, Hillsborough County, 51%
Seventh grade: State, 50%, Hillsborough County, 49%
10th grade: State, 53%, Hillsborough County, 52%
State compared to Hillsborough for Math
Third grade: State 60%, Hillsborough County, 56%
Seventh grade: State, 47%, Hillsborough County, 34%
State compared to Pinellas for English
Third grade: State, 55%, Pinellas County, 62%
Seventh grade: State, 50%, Pinellas County, 54%
10th grade: State, 53%, Pinellas County, 51%
State compare to Pinellas for Math
Third grade: State 60%, Pinellas County, 63%
Seventh grade: State, 47%, Pinellas County, 27%
